Being Vegan, Moving to the Suburbs, and Finding Our Place

Aside from being a mom, wife, daughter, sister..., Eve Lynn Kessner is a Holistic Health Counselor, blogger over at Love Life and Lollipops, instructor-in-training at SoulCycle, amateur chef, ex-fashion designer, home craft fanatic, and a bunch of other things. In her spare time (of which there is currently very, very little), she loves to read, do yoga, play with her dogs and kiddos in her new backyard, and stop to breathe in the moments.

I have to admit, leaving Brooklyn for greener pastures was not my plan. I literally left kicking and screaming. I loved my little life in Brooklyn. It somehow defined me. I found comfort and routine amongst the like-minded, open-minded, liberal, tattooed, DIY, meatless-Monday crowd.

I walked everywhere, bought veggies at the farmer's market, had my best friend and her son (my daughter Avital's best friend) a half block away, could hear my children from any corner of my apartment, had a water view... life was good.

And then Avital turned four. Kindergarten loomed. School districts became my obsession. We put our apartment on the market to find something with public school promise. And after a long, treacherous real estate/soul search, I caved. My husband won. We moved to the burbs.

Oh, the burbs. The land of lawns and good schools. Organized soccer and Starbucks. Sold soul.

We found a house, moved all our stuff in, realized how empty it was, filled it with more stuff, and settled in. And though I was intent on not loving it, and I'm still not sure I do, I couldn't help but appreciate a few things:

-My kids laughter running through the yard (cheesy as it may sound, I swear it's true).

-The ease of "walking" my dog (and the new puppy we just took home).

-The size of my bedroom! Yowzers!

-Oh, and fireplaces. Fireplaces. Fireplaces!

So, I registered Avital for kindergarten, signed our little one, Bar, up for preschool, and found the pharmacy, market, SoulCycle. My husband's convincing started to kick in. Maybe this will be okay...

But (and there is always a but, right?!), school started. And I realized that being organic, vegetarian, and dairy-free, was not as easy as it had been. Nope, Toto. We're not in Brooklyn anymore.

It amazes me how so many schools — public and private alike — serve our children such low quality snacks and meals.

Food is energy — straight up. We truly are what we eat. And so are our children. The foods we put in them can make them happy or sad, energetic or lethargic, fast or slow.

Non-organic foods, GMO foods, bleached flour, food stripped of it's fiber... We are depriving our children of the nutrients they need to grow their bodies and their brains!

I offered to talk to both of the schools professionally about their food programs. The public school system is a crazy bureaucracy system, but preschool is totally manageable. And in the past (in Brooklyn), I've had a lot of success in changing what my children and their buddies were being fed while at school! Hopefully, we can have some same success here. I believe we can.

And I believe if more moms make it a priority, the schools will have to as well.

So voice your opinion! Get involved! Don't let your children's diets be dictated by anyone but you or them.

Here are a few tips for healthy kid snacks that are easy to make:

1. Apples dipped in local honey. Apples are obviously nutritious — an apple a day... But honey, you'd think no, right? Local honey from local bees can actually help children's seasonal allergies. And dipping adds a fun element!

2. Sesame rice crackers dipped in hummus. My kids go crazy over those crispy, round rice crackers. They love the sesame flavor which adds a boost of minerals. Try to buy the brown rice crackers. And the hummus adds protein and is satiating for longer play time.

3. Yogurt (or in our case soy yogurt) and fruit. Although I push people to shy away from dairy, if you are going to do it, organic and cultured yogurt is the way. You can find cultured coconut, soy, or almond versions, too. The cultures provide beneficial bacteria for our kids' bellies which not only help digestion, but also help immunity. Our gut is an important line of defense for our bodies, so we need to keep it healthy!

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